You’re known for your celeb covers and collaborations. Which were the most memorable?
The first one I did was probably the multiple string of Black Eye Pea’s “I Got A Feeling.” I also did “Forget You” by Cee Lo. That was fun because it was a collaboration with a hip hop artist I respect, Kero One. The stuff I’ve done with Wong Fu Productions is also very cool. The videos turned out really well because they’re just really great actors and producers. I also enjoy writing songs with Kina Grannis. We have different styles, yet we get along really well. We write a lot of happy songs, one of which is “The Way You Are.”

What advice do you have for anyone who wants to make it big on YouTube?
You’ve got to have something; some sort of content. You’ve got to be a musician, comedian, filmmaker or a teacher of something. Be valuable to the people who watch; whether it’s for entertainment or information. Another thing that’s important is to be consistent. Keep putting up your content as much and as soon as you can.

Who are your favorite YouTube artists?
I really admire my friends at Wong Fu Productions, not only because they’re my friends. They’re really good at what they do and they just keep getting better. I also like Freddie Wong’s stuff. He does lots of videos involving guns and CG and sometimes I don’t even know what he’s doing but it looks really cool.

What’s been happening since you last performed here at TAB?
A lot of stuff, man. I think I did another tour since then in the US. I was also a part of a couple of different tours and went on this digitour, which was sort of the first nationwide tour involving all the YouTube artistes. That was pretty fun. We got on a real tour bus and all. I’ve been writing for my third album, which I hope to complete in October.

We’re going to be there at your concert—what should we look forward to?
I’m going to play some new songs—songs that will be on my next album. I really look forward to seeing some new fans!

Find out if you could be “That Girl” at David Choi’s Asia-Pacific Tour concert on Jun 21-22, 7:30pm. Esplanade Recital Studio, 1 Esplanade Dr., 6828-8377. $49-69 from Sistic.

What is style?
Style is innate. With the right sass and panache, any look will work.

What can you not do without?
Sunglasses for sure. Not only do they cover up signs from a rough night out, they allow you to people-watch shamelessly.

Who are your style icons?
Dita Von Teese, Angelina Jolie and Marilyn Monroe. Strong women who never fail to amaze me with stylish choices on and off the red carpet.

Can money buy style?
Style does not recognize how much you have shelled out for the piece you purchased 15 minutes ago. It can be a maxi dress from Topshop or a one-off from a luxury brand; attitude counts for much.

High street or high fashion?
It depends on the occasion. High street fashion is perfect for a relaxed day out looking chic without feeling the need to rob a bank. High fashion labels come in when you need that extra glitz for an event.

Favorite fashion tip?
Caps are perfect for bad hair days.

Famous last words.
“There are no ugly women, just lazy ones”—Helena Rubinstein.

I once colored my hair three shades of blue—baby blue, bright electric blue and dark blue—then went bungee jumping at the River Thames. It took a total of six hours at this avant garde salon, because they weren’t used to dealing with Asian hair at all. They all clapped when I left.

I was a real terror as a child. My mom would have canes hidden all over the house. She only needed to stick her arm out and there’d be a cane handy. So my mission was to hunt down the canes and destroy them. Of course, I got in trouble for that.

If we can make life better for others, we should. I always think, one day, I could be in that position. And if I was, I’d like to think there’d be someone who’d help out because they could although they didn’t have to. So it might be cliché, but treat others how you want to be treated.

Back in the UK, whenever one of us decided to do something at the spur of the moment that was totally random and crazy, they used to say, “You’re doing a Willin.” Some people definitely thought I was crazy when I decided to not only quit law to be a chef, but also open up my own place. Those were the ones who didn’t know me.

I was a fussy eater, I still am. Although I’ve had whale semen, horse sashimi and fried scorpions.
I used to get sent straight to my room without any dinner because I’d complain about my mom’s food. I’d store Calbee prawn crackers in my room, just so I’d have something to eat. The food in England was so bad that I actually missed army food.

I think I’m a terrible Christian. Although I will say that I believe in divine intervention.

My parents were a great couple, and after being married for over twenty five years, they got a divorce.

I was in my final year of law school when it happened and my family didn’t want to tell me about it in case it would affect me. I’d never even seen them quarrel and I guess I took for granted they’d always be together.

The home I left was completely different from the one I came back to. I left Singapore as a boy, but when I came back, I became the man of the house.

I’ve become a bit cynical and don’t believe in the institution anymore. I look around me and most relationships don’t seem to last beyond five to eight years. There really are no guarantees in life.

The worst advice I’ve ever been given was from my best friend. A few years ago, he told me to buy shares in this company, so I did. There isn’t a happy ending, the share price dropped to a tenth of the value that I’d bought it for. He made a huge loss too; that was rough. We’re still friends, ever since 1999. In fact, I’m his son’s godfather.

I’m inspired by people who do things at great personal sacrifice to pursue something that’s bigger than themselves. It’s not courageous to do what I do.

I have a security blanket that I play with when I go to bed at night. It’s in such a bad state it’s shameful. The only time I didn’t have it with me was when I was in the army. Let’s just say I didn’t want to get bullied.

Durians are my one real weakness. I lie awake at night thinking of them. After a long day of work, even if I’m completely exhausted, I’ll occasionally stop by Geylang and eat a mountain of durians by myself.

Why did you make the switch from R&B to jazz?        
I did not make a switch. I have been a jazz player all my life, ever since I first heard a recording of John Coltrane when I was 14. I was, however, a studio player in Los Angeles for about 25 years, and that required me to play many different kinds of music, one of which was R&B. So when playing that, I was a jazz player performing R&B music.  But I was always a jazz player.

Did your life change after winning your first Grammy?
Not much, since my life focus is on playing the music and continuing to grow and develop in it and through it. So I was still (as I am now) practicing every day, writing music, and playing. I may have gotten more work because people in the business knew about the award.

You’ve recorded with a lot of great artists. Which big name have you most enjoyed working with?
Charlie Haden, the iconic bass player of jazz, has been a particularly wonderful musician to play with. I have been in his group Quartet West for 25 years now, enjoying Charlie’s incredible tone and the rich musical experience that the group produces.

What artist would you most like to work with?
I have always wanted to play with the great jazz pianist Keith Jarrett.  I admire his music very much.

You’ve been playing jazz for decades. How has your style evolved? Has technology been a factor?
My style, when I was a student, was at first a choice of ideas from what I heard on records of great musicians, and then gradually I found my own “voice” (my sound) as I continued to play more and more. Now, as a long-time professional playing for over 50 years, my style still continuously evolves, because I am always practicing, listening to music, and trying new musical ideas.

Technique and medium: Oil on canvas

What is the reason behind U Lun Gwye’s acclaim in Burma?
U Lun Gwye is probably among the last of his generation of artists in Southeast Asia and also one of the very few who had part of their art training abroad. He has served the Burmese art community as an art educator, a private art tutor whereby younger painters “apprentice” themselves to his art practice in order to study his style of painting as well as his artistic discipline. His painting practice has been given recognition by premier art institutions in Southeast Asia and his works are in some very notable public and private collections. These are among the factors that have earned him the recognition as a “master painter.”

What do you think his work says about Burmese women?
Painting is regarded as visual documentation. U Lun Gwye’s artistic renderings regard the beauty of Burmese women as one that extends beyond the physical. He often portrays village women executing everyday duties and rituals and through these he is able to see beyond the surface. Through his vibrant colors he relates the joyous nature of women and the sense of camaraderie amongst women.

How does he see Burmese women?
I believe that U Lun Gwye recognizes that beauty is universal, but of course, culturally he has studied the psyche of Burmese women, who in his work are often demure, feminine—yet they have an inner strength. In the history of Burma, there have been very powerful queens and courtesans.

What would you say about this painting, Nymph on the Rocks?
U Lun Gywe is an articulate landscapist and it is not unusual for him to set the figurative within the landscape. In many of his paintings, water is prominent and water has very powerful connotations. Here, he portrays a female figure almost like a water nymph—mysterious and sensuous.

Does he favor the work of any artists in particular?
As a young artist, U Lun Gywe, like many painters, studied the works of the European Impressionist painters and though he has often spoken of his experiences when he studied in East Germany about his experiences viewing such works first hand, he has never indicated any preferences to any particular Western artists. However he has and continues to pay homage to U Thein Han, his mentor who became an important guidepost in his career and his life.

What’s the art scene like in Burma?
The art scene in Yangon is a very active and evolving one and, today, there are many disciplines of visual art to be seen.

I am the seventh of nine children. To support us, my father drove a taxi while my mom had a grocery shop. I grew up watching them work very hard.

My mom was the most influential person for me as a child. She loved reading and passed that on to me.

In university, I mostly spent my spare time on activities like volunteering for rural development camps.

I worked as a writer for a year and then quit. I hated living my life on deadline. I decided to get out before it ruined my love for writing.

I joined the AIDS Access Foundation because I had been interested in that issue since my college days—and also because administrators were downplaying the extent of the problem back then.

The organization was very democratic. No objection was ignored or denied just because it came from a junior. That really taught me to be who I am now.

After I’d been working there thirteen years, Jon Ungpakorn invited me to oversee the Prachatai news website. We felt that mainstream media was in the hands of those who have power or money.

Prachatai tries to be independent so we keep the group small, and have few sponsors, so that we are not limited by them.

Thai law and its enforcement is problematic. Thai laws are written ambiguously.

Most people just want to hear what they already believe, and they distrust the media. It’s time for the media to be watchdog for society.

The rights of the media are to be protected because the media needs to protect the rights of the people.

The media is self-censoring out of fear. And society stays silent.

The media should not be limited. Actually violence results from these limits. When people don’t know what’s going and can’t express what they want, there is increased tension. It is a basic psychological phenomenon that the government should acknowledge.

Being sued on the charges of being “Red Shirt media” is incomprehensible and unjustified. We did not cross any lines that insulted the royal family according to the law. But the problem is that when there are political conflicts, people try to interpret the law for their own benefits and use the law to discredit the opposition.

Winning the Courage in Journalism Prize is an encouragement. It provides me with more opportunities to talk to people and report on important issues.

It’s an encouragement for small people to stand up and speak.

I use my rights to fight for my rights. But que sera sera. If found guilty, I’ll live with it.

Our society doesn’t accept that political conflicts are normal. So we tend to overdramatize them. If we learned to live with conflict, then we could live in harmony. But now the conflicts are too big to be swept under the carpet.

I think the solution is going to take time. There is no shortcut. Thai people need to understand that “it matters” and bring themselves out of the “mai pen rai” mindset.

Bangkok is my home. Not so many people can actually say that. I never felt that until I lived in rural areas for three years. Even in places with better quality of life, I still yearn for Bangkok. My roots, my friends, my family are all here.

Bangkok is selfish. It takes advantages in terms of development from other provinces.

I love the public transport in Bangkok. I love to sit among other people and spend time with my thoughts. This can’t be done in other provinces.

I think a public space is needed, a place for everyone to hang out, not only for the middle class. Bangkokians need more good libraries like TK Park for everyone.

There are limitations on our freedom of expression but no one can take away the freedom to think. We should be able to think differently and see the world from a wider perspective. Not being able to write or speak does not stop us from thinking critically about the world.

Why do you want to be a singer?
I’ve dreamed of being a singer since I was like nine years old. I watched some music thingy at school and I saw people singing in it and I really wanted to start singing like them even though I am normally a shy person.

Who are your idols?
If you mean singing and dancing idols, it would be G-Dragon and Usher. G-Dragon has a special character and look. His dance moves are all different from other people. As for Usher, when he sings and dances, his emotions come out so clearly that we can feel it. But if you are talking about the hero in my heart, it would be the king of Thailand. He’s a genius. I want to help people, like him.

Tell us about your song
My song is called “Connect” and it’s Asian pop dance. Its lyrics are about social networking – like Facebook, Twitter, and so on which is the thing that I love to do in my everyday life.

Do you connect with your fans online directly?
Yes. I don’t like people to pretend that they’re me on my fanpage. Sometimes we play jokes on the site. Some people also bought gifts for me and some were pretty awkward like a toy poo.

How do you manage your time between your career and your education?
I don’t know [laughs]. I just work the hardest I can and then I usually study hard too. Learning comes first. When I get homework, I usually finish them at school or in the car. I get tired sometimes but it’s ok.

What do you do in your free time?
I read a lot of books. Some books are like scientific or knowledge books and some books are just cartoon books. I really enjoy reading Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan’s books. I like working on DIY too. I create my own toys like masks, swords, the magic wand from Harry Potter and stuff.

Was the music industry like what you expected?
Pretty much. But I didn’t expect the production in front of the camera will be complicated. I learn that when we don’t complete or when we fail a job, we do it all over again.

Have you ever dreamed of being anything else?
Actually, I dreamed of being a doctor. I like helping people and I think it’s pretty fun, helping people and curing them.

“Undone by a frustrating mire of multiple plots, overreaching special effects, leaden ancillary players and world-ending military standoffs that have all the tension of a water balloon fight.”—Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

“X-Men: First Class? More like coach, actually.”—Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

“When this youth brigade takes the forefront, turning a secret CIA base into a romper room, the movie might as well be called X-Men: Little Rascals.”—Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm

“I don’t necessarily want to be the guy who tries to hang a discount-store T.S. Eliot essay about the Death of Culture on yet another mediocre Hollywood sequel, but there’s something a little depressing about all the hype and excitement surrounding X-Men: First Class.” —Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

“The best acting in X-Men: First Class is by President John F. Kennedy, who in his Thanksgiving 1962 message to the nation, expresses gratitude for the successful end of the Cuban Missile Crisis while suppressing what he surely must know, that American and Soviet missiles spent a great deal of time flying back and forth while mentally controlled by the awesome powers of mutants.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Read our review of X-Men: First Class

I come from a big family and they gave me a lot of freedom. They basically said “We don’t have much time for you. Don’t do anything illegal. As long as you can earn a decent living.”

My mother’s approach was: “I’ve got you into university. My job is done.”

In my first week at NUS, I realized that if I was just to attend tutorials and lectures, I’d be bored stiff. So I started acting.

The first play I was in was called Beauty and Braces. Obviously then, I didn’t play the beauty.

By some strange stroke of luck, I won one of the best actor awards. My character had to take off his glasses and put them down. They had conveniently polished the floor, so you could comb your hair in the reflection, and my glasses flew across the stage and into the judges.

Until I was in my 20s, I’d never stepped into a museum for very long.

My Master’s thesis was completely un-art. It was pure quantitative analysis. It was on quality supply management for sourcing of components by electronics multinationals.

Among the explosion of sound and fury in the arts, you have to be able to identify what is most critical. All that quantitative training brought a certain sort of rigor.

I curated a long series on Peranakan art at the Asian Civilisations Museum. Everything and everyone we were exhibiting had gone dust-to-dust a long time ago.

Back then, I was dealing with legacy. Here, it’s potential and what can be.

I’ve been going forward in time. I went from antiquity to history and now to contemporary art.

Until last year, my parents had problems understanding what I actually do. They thought I was just looking at lots of dead things. When they came to SAM, they said “Gee…”

Contemporary art is not the place for someone with a narrow point of view.

To do this job you have to learn to multitask. One day you’re a bean counter, the next day you might be talking about epistemology and ontology.

You need to deal with the Tower of Babel; there are 1,000 languages and 1,000 opinions. We’re dealing with a living community, one that is continuing to produce.

We’ve realized that at the Museum, we need to explain a bit more.

People here have been spoilt by nice exhibitions with air conditioning, a water cooler and a train station right outside.

It’s important for us to try and show what we think will last. Not to just mirror what’s happening.

If you want to not be dull, you need to constantly confront yourself with uncertainty and people and ideas that don’t conform to what you’re used to.

If you only do what you’re comfortable with, then you stop. The curiosity starts to die. You start to ossify. That’s why contemporary art is extremely stimulating for me; it’s pushing at the edges and sometimes it frays.

This idea that contemporary art is cool and hip will soon start to fade—there will be art that is hot; art that is full of emotion.

This is sacrilegious, but I’m quite bored by arthouse cinema. I enjoy it, but I’m not fascinated by it.

I watch a lot of trashy movies. I think to make a movie using completely clichés is an art in itself.

Why are vampires and werewolves popping up all over, and why now? I think it mirrors an uncertainty of our age.

True Blood is just incredible.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your role in Midnight Shift.
Where should I start? Well, I was never interested in football, basketball or had any real hobbies unlike the rest of my peers in school. During the late 90s, I got to know an owner of a club down Dunlop street called Area 22 and that was the first time I heard Ramesh and a few others playing drum and bass and techno at the venue. The people and music amazed me, electronic music became my instant hobby.

Music became something I could live for. Then, reality hit me... I knew I had to finish up my studies and start a job that had a corporate ladder to climb if I had family and personal responsibilities to cope with. Part time DJing was not secure for me and we already had very good jocks that were doing it much better than me. Competition was too high and there were few clubs back then.

Few years ago, I realised commercialism reached a stage where the lines between quality and mainstream were blurred horribly. My peers were complaining about the "scene", and I decided to do something about it. I had an idea to create likemindedness among people and expose them to more varieties of electronic music. Together with Brendon P, Debbie Chia, Eddie Niguel, Keith Lim and Marvin Kam, each of us took a role and built Midnight Shift based on our perspective of an effective and educational music event.

No, we are not a collective as we do not perform for most of our events. We are working together using our strengths in key business roles such as copywriting, branding, marketing, design and music consultancy, then applying these to create an event where we could invite locals and international artists to work together and perform. We want to optimise exposure for brands and corporate companies that have been supporting the electronic music scene, we want to give back to the givers. It's a long lasting relationship we are looking for, not just a one-off dance music event.

What's the core purpose of MS and what have you guys done so far?
Midnight Shift's aim is to educate and expose -- we want people to put up their hands for the right music and we want the right talent to be heard and be paid their dues. Our parties have not been as consistent in frequency as we would like, but we are pretty happy with the quality we've managed to achieve with each one. We've branched out into a music label this year which will give an additional platform for artists to not just perform but produce as well.

How's the new label kicking?
The Midnight Shift label is launched in partnership with Ibadan Records based in Berlin, which is headed by Jerome Sydenham who has been in the recording industry business for more than 20 years. The concept of the label is peak-time house and techno tracks, which is open to every producer's interpretation of what will work on a dance floor. The label will bring together emerging and established artists on every release. This will give a boost of exposure to new talent and help them cut through the noise.

What do you think of Singapore's dance music scene?
It is still a young scene and not many people appreciate what our local artists have achieved. It needs more time.

If you could change something about the industry, what would it be and how would you approach it?
One thing I would change is the programs available in schools today. The government should play a part in building musical talents (both electronic and classical) at a very young age and provide funding and more programs as a career for these young talents. This way, we can both grow economically and culturally.

What's coming up for Midnight Shift?
We are inking down the party content for the rest of the year with two more events, and are prepping for the first music release in November 2011. We are also working with other collectives, industry partners and stakeholders to help raise the profile of electronic dance music in Singapore.

Last words?
If you are in this for fame, try acting.

Experience the revolution at Midnight Shift 04: Collab on Jun 24, 10pm. SOUL, #02-01 Odeon Towers, 331 North Bridge Rd., 8488-9991/8386-7049 (SMS only). $25-28 includes one drink.